Mae West's Birthday and 2018 West Fest

August 17th is the birthday of comedienne, playwright, you-know-what disturber, provocateur and showbiz icon Mae West.



This writer and classic comedy fan even likes the last of her 1930's and 1940's starring vehicles, The Heat's On (1943), introduced here by the late, great Robert Osborne.



The author/playwright/historian Trav S.D. is doing a tribute to Mae West in NYC for the rest of this month and it's happening now. That is fitting, since the Mae West section of his Travalanche website features 20 posts about the illustrious stage and screen career of America’s randiest and naughtiest comedienne.



We're both a tad late with this post and encouraging those readers of this blog in New York to attend the 2018 version of West Fest.



It began earlier today, includes presentations all weekend and runs through August 29.



Many insist that Mae West's entrance to the world transpired in 1893 and thus, today would be the 125th anniversary of her birth.




This writer conjectures that maybe that's true, but it is also likely Mae was born a few years earlier; while a most striking, charismatic, ultra-stylish and attractive woman, Mae doesn't look under 40 even in her first silver screen appearance in Night After Night.





Moot point! Paramount's first two starring Mae West vehicles, She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel, may well have brought on iron-fisted enforcement of the Production Code and the emergence of uber-bluenose Joseph Breen in July 1934 by making SO much money.



These two films were considered to have singlehandedly brought Paramount Pictures out of bankruptcy!



Here are some highlights from the 2018 West Fest schedule.

August 18 (Saturday)
At New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Let’s Talk About Mae!
2:00 pm
Mae and Race, introduced by Chicava Honeychild, scholar, actress, proprietress of Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater.

3:00 p.m.
Mae and Spiritualism - presentation by Kathy Biehl, scholar, actress, freelance writer, and certified, award-winning psychic and astrologer.

4:00 p.m.
Rebel Mae West - a panel discussion moderated by Grady Turner, curator of “Bare! True Stories of Sex Desire and Romance” and author of blog One Life, Take Two; featuring international burlesque sensation Dirty Martini; Elyse Singer, CUNY teaching fellow, artistic director of Hourglass Group, and director of two critically-acclaimed revivals of Mae West plays: Sex (1999) and Pleasure Man (2003); as well as participants Trav S.D., John Calhoun, Chicava Honeychild, and Kathy Biehl.

August 19 (Sunday) - Mae West Double Feature



She Done Him Wrong and Belle Of The Nineties.



Films introduced by Michele Gouveia, West Fest chair, writer, and producer. Time: 2:00 pm



Location: Jefferson Market Library, 425 Sixth Ave
Cost: Free

August 25 (Saturday) - 1:30 p.m.


Screening of My Little Chickadee hosted by Dr. Harriet Fields, the granddaughter of W.C. Fields, at Metrograph, 7 Ludlow Street, New York City
Cost: $15
To purchase tickets in advance, go here. 

August 27 (Monday)
Staged reading of the musical Come Up ‘n’ See Me, an original musical about the life of Mae West. Book by Bianca Leigh, Bonnie Lee Sanders and Ellen Schwartz. Music and Lyrics by Bonnie Lee Sanders and Ellen Schwartz. Directed by Crystal Chapman. Musical Direction by Thomas Spahn
Time: 8:00 pm
Location: Friars Club, 55 W 57th St
Cost: $15.
Proper attire is expected Tickets must be purchased in advance. To buy tickets and read more about the show, visit the Come Up ‘n’ See Me: The Musical website.


August 29 (Wednesday) Screening: I’m No Angel (1933), introduced by Trav S.D.
Time: 7pm
Location: Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave, Huntington, Long Island
Cost: $11 members/ $16 public



Hopefully, the West Fest programs will help many in NYC who are feeling sad about the passing of vocalist, songwriter, pianist, recording artist (and stalwart contributor to the cause of civil rights) Aretha Franklin yesterday at 76. Both Aretha and Mae demanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T - and got it!



As this post admittedly was tardy, here, two days after the original post, is an account of the first part of West Fest, complete with photos.